


History Lesson

by Marf_Redux



Series: Transformation Divergence Three [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Kuron is Ryou, Shiro is in a galra body but that doesn't come up, discussion of how the universe got so screwed up in thirty three years, mention of clones treated as disposable, mentions of missing and dead relatives, others are present but dont' talk much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26986825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marf_Redux/pseuds/Marf_Redux
Summary: The Paladins begin to be filled in on the events that led to the state of the galaxy during the thirty three years they were gone.
Series: Transformation Divergence Three [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905121
Kudos: 1





	History Lesson

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are disabled. I have my reasons for this and they are in my profile if you simply must know why. I tell you this so you will be forewarned in case you don't want to read fics that disable them.
> 
> Kudos are appreciated and thank you in advance to anyone who leaves them.

History Lesson

“Veronica,” Lance said happily when a woman walked in and he ran forward to hug her. “You look just like mom.” He said and she could see tears in Lance’s eyes. This must be his sister, she could see the resemblance. “You really are out here?” The question was tinged with sadness she guessed because they had been told members of his family were missing.

“Yeah, little brother I am,” the older woman said sadly. “Look there’s so much to talk about but you guys really need to be caught up on history so Ryou asked me to come do it.” She seemed wary, “So let’s get it over with, I guess I should start with what happened on Earth after the explosion.”

“So you can tell us how Wade created his empire and why my dad works for him?” Pidge said quickly and almost hopefully. She still thought there would be some simple answer to the problems they faced. 

“That’s a complicated question and unfortunately I only know parts of the story,” Veronica said shaking her head. “Just before the explosion that supposedly killed you all there was a shock wave that knocked out all tech on Earth and we got lucky human tech recovered first.” She looked down, “Wade, pretty much led the uprising that saved us from the Galra occupation seizing their assets in the process.” She sighed, “It was bloody and messy but we won and Earth celebrated her hero.” She glanced at the Paladins to see they were uncomfortable. “In the weeks that followed we learned we’d some how been cut off from the wider universe were all the trouble was and Wade put forward the plan to explore in the other direction to find technologies and potential allies since there was no guarantee the barrier would endure and we had already seen what was out there with the Galra.”

“Wade was put in charge of that mission wasn’t he,” Shiro said and Veronica nodded. “I assume that Sam Holt went with him?” Lance’s sister nodded again. She glanced over at Pidge to see her frowning deeply.

“Anyway for the next four years Earth rebuilt and learned to use and reproduce the Galra technology we’d seized.” She seemed thoughtful, “then one day a massive fleet showed up and Wade just moved in and took over declaring that Earth was the Capital of the new Terran Empire.” She sighed, “he didn’t have much trouble taking over and those of us who didn’t agree ended up rounded up and put in jail for being collaborates with the enemy.”

“So you have no idea where the tech came from?” Pidge asked clearly disbelieving. “Come on even if he took over by force there had to still be people asking where he got it?” She could understand Pidge’s desire but she had the feeling that Pidge was giving her world’s people too much credit. She had seen first had how easily populations were to embrace a leader’s lies.

“He claimed the technology was developed by your father during the journey,” Veronica said after a moment. “When folks pointed out that it still made no sense for how quickly a fleet was built they very quickly ended up out of favor at best and dead a worst, so the questions stopped.” She sighed the, “Of course not everyone fell in line a resistance was formed and when the barrier came down as many of us as possible came out here looking for help.” She looked grim, “Of course out here things were just as bad if not worse.”

She looked around to see all the Paladins looked uncomfortable, their eyes were full of quesitons but none of them were speaking up so she did. “What happened to the Coalition in our absence?” She asked sharing a glance with Coran to convey how worried she was about what they would probably here.

“From what I was told the coalition fleet was attacked by the largest of the Galra factions and nearly destroyed shortly after you vanished,” Veronica said shaking her head. “That faction was then attacked by an alliance of the several of the other Galra factions.” She looked over at Shiro then with an unreadable expression. “After that Sendak and his faction showed up having claimed the Galra Command System ship and easily put himself on the Galra throne.” She turned back toward her then, “And that Princess is the when the Olkari got desperate enough to do what they did that brought Sendak down on them and destroyed their planet.”

“What did they do?” Hunk asked before anyone else could but it was clear form everyone’s faces that they wanted to know. She recalled Ryou mentioning a weapon and that they woudln’t like it. 

“They attempted to build a new Voltron to take the place of the old one,” Veronica said and she pulled a device from her pocket that projected images of five modified lions. There was a great deal more black and they were far boxier and less detailed they had clearly gotten much further than she would have thought. “Unfortunately while this new Voltron managed to hold the line until most of the Olkari had evacuated it drained too much from it’s paladins so it and they were destroyed when the planet fell three years after you vanished.” 

“How did the Olkari and the coalition remnants rebuild into that federation,” Shiro asked then. “If their Voltron fell with the planet how did they manage to create something so large and defined.” She could instantly see that Veronica did not want to talk about it. 

“I’ll handle that explanation,” a voice said and she the others turned to see Ryou there again. “I’ll handle things from here.” She could see the relief in Veronica who said a quick good bye to Lance and assured him she’d take him to see the rest of their surviving family as soon as possible. 

“I’m sorry I had to leave so suddenly your return is already having consequences but it’ll be a bit before we see how things are shaking out,” Ryou said and then projected an image of another Voltron this one looked far more like the orginal only colored in the traditional olkari tech colors. “This is how the Olkari built their federation they went back to an earlier idea one Rynar rejected before her death on their home world.” She glanced at Pidge to see how shocked she was by that statement. “The main difference is that this Voltron is just one unit not five lions combined and it was deployed roughly a year after Olkari fell.” He looked down, “It is nearly as powerful as the real Voltron and quickly turned the tide of things, especially after the Olkari revealed they’d built more than one.” Ryou did not sound happy about that. “The surviving forces opposed to Sendak’s Galra empire flocked to join with the Olkari.”

“How many did they build?” Lance asked looking at the hologram. “And are theys till around cause from the sounds of things we could use the help.” She noticed how angry Ryou looked for a second at Lance’s words but he schooled his features quickly. “What’s wrong?” Lance asked clearly having noticed.

“We don’t know exactly how many they have but the most we’ve ever seen them deploy is thirteen,” Ryou said in a grim tone. “The battle that turned the tide and put Sendak’s empire on the defensive when they destroyed the Galra Command System ship was when they used that many.” He sighed, “That’s also when the rest of us learned the secret of how the Olkari did it.” He projected another image it looked like a heavily modified healing pod that was completely sealed. “This is one of the six cores that power and control the Voltron copies and inside it is a clone of one of you.” He said looking at them, “The white central core has a clone of Allura and each lion head has a core matching the real lion’s paladins.” She could hear the disgust in his voice. “It would be horrifying enough if they were just mindless clones but the Olkari were using the knowledge I brought back about how Haggar made me to make sure the clones have your memories even though they never get to live only exist trapped in those pods until the burden of powering that Voltron burns them out usually in less than five battles.” 

She glanced around to see how horrified the other Paladins were though she wondered to herself if she’d have been that horrified if she hadn’t come to see Ryou as a person. “That’s why your group isn’t with the Olkari Federation isn’t it?” Shiro asked Ryou then. “They are still using them aren’t they?”

“Yes, though we stuck around far longer than we should have because as bad as it was most of us rationalized it as a necessary evil to save the Universe from Sendak,” Ryou said and he sounded extremely unhappy about that. “We tried to urge them to find a safer way to power their Voltron copies that didn’t involve the sacrifice of living things but it turns out that without the exotic properties of the lions themselves producing that much power in a mech requires this type of sacrifice and the Olkari considered clones expendable compared to citizens since they could be replaced easily.”

“How did you finally break away from them,” She asked in the lull because there was nothing she could say about the Olkari Voltron copies. She wasn’t surprised they had such a high cost to operate much of the lions power was tied up in their intrinsic nature.

“About seven years after you vanished things came to a head when the Olkari Federation passed a new law that basically amounted to the Universe was either with them or with Sendak and claims of neutrality would not be respected.” She could see that shocked the others. “Plenty of us broke away then refusing to support trading one empire for another.” He looked down, “We didn’t get much support most of the new Federation was either in favor of things or afraid of what would happen if they left.” He sighed, “those of us who left started building a fleet out of the folks who didn’t want to throw in with either trying to protect the neutral systems but just a few years later the Terran Empire arrived and well things turned into a real cluster fuck.” 

“So what do you do now and how did Earth and the Galra become Allies?” Pidge asked once again entering the conversation since the Terran Empire was mentioned again. She wondered if they’d be able to trust Pidge at all.

“They are also allied with the Olkari Federation,” Ryou said and she heard shocked gasp from the paladins in response to that statement. “Just over ten years ago Sendak realized that he was going to lose to which one of them destroyed the other so he took a gamble that paid off for him he approached both with peace accords and forced them into a cold war through the threat of siding with one of them against the other.” She had to admit it was a risky move but it had clearly paid off. “As to what we do we protect the neutral systems and offer covert support to resistance movements in all three of the major powers so we are technically wanted enemies of all three though since the Terran empire is the most aggressively after us the other two are more likely to look the other way.” He sighed, “though that might change now that your back because the real Voltron being back is a major upset to the balance of power in the universe.”

She had already considered that and she also knew that everyone even these people would have plans for them. “What do you expect of us?” She asked before anyone else could say anything. Ryou gave her a knowing look then.

“Our group would like for you to join our fight of course but as to what I expect you to do,” Ryou said pausing for a moment. “I expect you to learn everything you can and then make your decision regardless of what we or anyone else wants.”

“So if we decided to go join someone else you wouldn’t try to stop us?” Pidge asked before anyone else could and she resisted the urge to say something to her. She had the feeling that Pidge was still in denial about her father being a potential enemy.

“What would be the point we don’t have anything that can stand up to Voltron but if you leave then you won’t be allowed to take our cloaking or any other tech with you,” Ryou said and she was not surprised by that. “I’ll arrange a tour and a meet for each of you with your surviving families and there are still things some of you need to be told.” He looked over at Shiro and Keith as he said that. “And Pidge Matt said to tell you that he wanted to talk to you as soon as possible alone.” He took his leave after that leaving them alone.

“Do you trust him?” Pidge said before anyone else could say anything. “We only have one side of the story we should find out what the others have to say.” She could tell several of the others wanted to say something to her but she raised her hand for silence from them.

“I don’t know if I trust him and you’re right we only have one side of the story but for now I believe Ryou, Matt and Krolia have not done anything to show they are not trust worthy,” she could tell Pidge was still torn about that. “We need to be observant but unless they give us a reason to distrust them I see no reason to cause problems.” She hoped Pidge wouldn’t because she wanted to trust all the paladins but she was still wary. She hoped Matt would be able to answer his sister’s questions in away that would settle her down. If not there was a chance they wouldn’t be able to do much of anything.

The End


End file.
